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墨書 Inktalez
In the dark Underground Cave, time has come to a standstill. The Cave Full of Crystals glimmers with colorful lights, and in the center of the cave, a shadowy figure sits motionless.
Upon closer inspection, this person resembles a statue, covered in thick layers of dust.
Suddenly, a beam of golden light shines from their forehead, like a beacon in the darkness. Gradually, bright golden light radiates from within their entire body, illuminating the entire Underground Cave.
After a long while, the golden light slowly fades away, and the person abruptly opens their eyes, two substantial beams of golden light flashing from their depths before vanishing.
Li Hong casually shook his body, flames erupting around him as the hard Black Stone at the cave's ceiling crackled. Once the itching sensation subsided, he focused his thoughts and extinguished the flames.
The Upper Dantian had undergone tremendous changes. Ten golden pills had reached perfection and were arranged in a peculiar formation. Three of them were his life’s golden pills, forming a small group that spun closely together. Surrounding them were seven other golden pills, rotating in sync like stars orbiting the moon. While these seven could also be considered Li Hong's life’s golden pills, they were somewhat different from the three.
The three were manifestations of Li Hong's three souls: Heaven, Earth, and Fate, which constituted his essence. The outer seven were manifestations of Li Hong's seven spirits: Courage, Wisdom, Vitality, Strength, Pivot, Essence, and Heroism. Each had its own function but were all part of Li Hong.
Typically, when one forms golden pills, they consolidate all Three Souls and Seven Spirits into a single golden pill. However, Li Hong had separated them into ten distinct golden pills.
This was unprecedented and unheard of. Yet Li Hong understood that this was a good thing resulting from practicing the Six Spirit Salty Ritual.
He discovered that he could immerse his mind into any one of the golden pills or easily divide his consciousness into ten parts to enter each golden pill. In other words, he effectively had ten versions of himself. He could simultaneously command at least ten magical artifacts; as his cultivation progressed further in the future, commanding even a hundred would not be difficult. This was one significant advantage of forming ten golden pills.
Another major benefit was that he would consume spiritual power or Awareness less quickly than others. While others had only one golden pill, he possessed ten. His power was multiplied tenfold.
The advantages of forming ten golden pills did not stop there; his Divine Consciousness was exceptionally strong now.
At this point, the benefits of practicing the Six Spirit Salty Ritual truly manifested.
His Divine Consciousness also multiplied tenfold, meaning he could simultaneously employ Beast Taming Technique and Summoning Technique while also commanding magical artifacts.
Before forming the golden pills, using Divination Technique could only be done individually—either using Beast Taming Technique or Summoning Technique—due to insufficient cultivation and Divine Consciousness. Now he found that he could effortlessly use them all at once and was confident that he could easily command Intermediate Spirit Beasts or mid-level Yin Spirits at this moment.
Intermediate Spirit Beast is one thing. However, being able to command a Mid-Level Yin Spirit is quite a leap. Unlike the low-level Yin Spirit and Evil Spirit, a Mid-Level Yin Spirit refers to mountain spirits and ghosts with actual cultivation. If the ghost king from Golden Lantern Gorge was merely compelled by emotional ties before, now he can truly be commanded at will. At this point, all kinds of spirits are no longer a concern.
As for the Mid-Level Spirit Talisman, what was once usable can now be drawn as a genuine Mid-Level Spirit Talisman, and it is also possible to use High-Level Spirit Talismans if one has them.
Now, he officially enters the fourth chapter of the heart method from the Six Spirit Salty Ritual and begins to solidify it. This chapter will start preparing for the formation of the Nascent Soul. Li Hong can't help but smile bitterly; will he really form ten Nascent Souls? Wouldn't that make him a true freak?
But for now, he won't consider that because there is a special heart method at the end of the fourth chapter concerning Colorful Light Tentacles.
These Colorful Light Tentacles have existed since the first chapter of the heart method; they are not an additional Divination Technique of the Six Spirit Salty Ritual, but rather an integral part of the heart method itself. Before reaching the Golden Core, the Colorful Light Tentacles could extend from the Upper Dantian and, as his cultivation increased, they could reach further distances, thus expanding his range of exploration.
Now, the Colorful Light Tentacles have officially upgraded into something else.
In his mind, a circle of indistinct ripples quickly extended from his Upper Dantian Purple Palace. With a thought, he suddenly found himself "seeing clearly" the dark Passageway outside. This feeling was strange. He tried to probe further along the Passageway, eventually discovering that he had "arrived" outside the cave entrance.
Outside was broad daylight, with a clear blue sky streaked with fiery red clouds. The green mountains remained unchanged, and large patches of silver Mugwort in the Gorge swayed gently in the wind.
The scenery outside was vivid in his mind, yet his body remained motionless in the dim Underground Cave.
He smiled and with another thought, the scene before him vanished.
At this point, he fully understood that those Colorful Light Tentacles were actually the primitive form of great advancement's Divine Consciousness. The Divine Consciousness is also a type of energy, but its source is somewhat mysterious and seems fundamentally different from spiritual power or Awareness.
The Six Spirit Salty Ritual cultivates not only Awareness, but also Divine Consciousness. No wonder it required a level of Divine Consciousness equivalent to that of a Golden Core Stage practitioner when first entering. However, this "Golden Core Stage's Divine Consciousness" clearly refers to an average person; now his own Divine Consciousness must be at least ten times that of an ordinary practitioner at the Golden Core Stage, possibly even hundreds of times greater.
He smiled again, finally understanding why when encountering enemies, Senior Heavenly Danzi always had foresight—it's due to his exceptionally powerful Divine Consciousness!
"Congratulations!" said Heavenly Torch, confirming that Li Hong had completed his work before offering his congratulations.
Now within the Upper Dantian, four entities still circled around the golden core, but notably, the brightness of the Moonlight of the Waning Moon had increased, while both Lingyi and Five Elements Shuttle were even more pronounced. Only the Fire Separation Pearl remained unchanged, still housing a small fire dragon within its transparent green shell...
Li Hong smiled and said, "I have advanced, but unfortunately, you haven't changed."
"Take your time, I'm not in a hurry. After all, I haven't absorbed all the essence of a thousand years of cultivation from the Fire Separation Pearl yet. Sooner or later, you will ascend to the immortal realm. Haha, it seems that my day of freedom is coming soon!" Heavenly Torch cackled with delight.
"I've found that I can use your divine powers now, like setting things on fire," Li Hong continued to smile.
"That's nothing; it's the original function of the Fire Separation Pearl. Good things should not be wasted on outsiders! Feel free to use it!" Heavenly Torch flew around inside the Fire Separation Pearl, his five dragon claws scratching excitedly. He continued to cackle, "But you need to be careful. If you suddenly burst into flames and appear naked in front of women, haha, be careful! They might insist that you owe them something! That girl with the innate Fire Spirit Root would be the first!"
Li Hong's expression darkened as a tremendous pressure emanated from him. Heavenly Torch immediately sensed it and thought to himself, "Wow, he's already this powerful after forming his Golden Core. If he forms a Nascent Soul later, won't he just crush people with his power?! It seems that the Six Spirit Salty Ritual is indeed very strong; this kid has the might of a Primordial Infant Old Monster right after forming his Golden Core. Hmph, in the future, I can walk sideways with the backing of a big tree!"
While Heavenly Torch was scheming, Li Hong was reminded of the moment he passed through his final emotional trial.
Wanyi... his gaze softened. But at the same time, Chu Xi's pure and affectionate eyes quietly surfaced in his mind.
Li Hong shook his head; it was too much. He had feelings for Wanyi, along with duty and responsibility. As for Chu Xi... a hint of melancholy crossed his heart; he could only wish her well, even though he sensed some hesitation and reluctance within himself.
Time to go out and see how Master and the others are doing. He wondered if they were well? Even if he planned to take Wanyi far away in the end, he should at least say goodbye to them. After all, as the youngest elder of Nine Li Sect, it wouldn't hurt to do so.
Li Hong smiled slightly; golden light flashed as he transformed into a gust of wind and swiftly exited the dark Passageway.
Once outside, seeing the long-awaited daylight and feeling the gentle breeze on his face, Li Hong squinted his eyes and enjoyed it for a moment. He summoned Lingyi and was about to leap up when he suddenly slapped his forehead. He had completely forgotten about Yun Jiuzi transmitting his Skyward Technique! There was no need for sword flight now!
The Skyward Technique had a short incantation—only three hundred words—making it very simple to learn. The principle was straightforward: it involved spreading Awareness throughout the body quickly flowing over the skin's surface, creating a spiral vortex underfoot for rapid movement.
Li Hong quickly grasped it; with a thought, Awareness surged through his skin as strange whistling sounds emerged from beneath his feet. With a whoosh, he shot forward at incredible speed. To change direction, he only needed to adjust his position; even upside down or sideways like a crab was no problem.
After practicing three or five times, Li Hong mastered the technique. He laughed heartily and transformed into a streak of golden light heading swiftly toward Nine Vermilion Peaks.
A thought crossed his mind: he wondered how many days had passed during this closed-door training session; it seemed... it seemed like quite a while—longer than the month Chu Xi mentioned.
********
Nine Vermilion Peaks It was quietly lunchtime, and there were some people coming in and out at the entrance of the Dining Hall.
Li Hong had not startled anyone. Jokingly, he stood there completely unclothed, wondering if he would become the subject of laughter again. The “Skyward Technique” was already mastered to perfection.
Someone vaguely saw a golden light swiftly darting towards the mountain peak. Upon focusing again, however, there was nothing there; it must have been an illusion. Shaking their head, they continued on their way.
Li Hong blinked and arrived at the Mountain Green Pavilion. Without saying a word, he jumped into his bedroom and opened the clothing chest in the corner.
Inside, everything was as he had arranged it himself. On top were two white silk robes, and below… his fingers brushed over the neatly stacked small clothes, trousers, shoes, and socks. These were all Wanyi's handiwork.
Seeing these familiar items brought a wave of warmth to his heart. He first took out the undergarments and put them on. To his surprise, they felt a bit tight and had yellowed slightly. Then he donned the white silk robe and immediately realized he had grown taller. Perhaps "grown" wasn't quite the right word.
During the Golden Core phase, all remaining impurities in his body had been expelled completely. His current body was now purely composed of Awareness combined with Innate Vital Blood, reshaped anew. Due to the overwhelming strength of his Awareness, he had unconsciously stretched during the reshaping process; the white silk robe that used to fit him perfectly was now about half a foot short.
He imagined that his appearance must be more imposing than before. Li Hong thought to himself that he always felt much shorter than his second brother; now he could finally see the back of his head.
He chuckled and shouted to the sky, “I’m back!”
Several White Shadow figures below heard his voice and quickly rushed over. The leader was a tall figure, robust and imposing—none other than Chuxiong!
Li Hongfei leaped out, and the two laughed heartily as they embraced in mid-air.
“Brother, I’m back!”
“You’ve successfully reached Golden Core, right? Haha, Master will be overjoyed! Everyone come see the new elder!” Chuxiong shouted at the top of his lungs.
“Wait! First tell me how long I’ve been in seclusion!”
Chuxiong's joyful expression suddenly froze. He fell to the ground, crouching down despondently, his large hand covering his face tightly. Li Hong saw tears the size of beans falling from between his fingers onto the ground.
A terrible feeling gripped him, tightening his insides. He stepped forward and grasped Chuxiong's arm, trembling as he asked, "How long has it been? What exactly happened?"
"You have been in seclusion for a full five years now, and many things have happened during this time," someone stepped forward and spoke loudly.
It was Chuxuan. He looked dignified and had grown taller, his cultivation level having reached Refining Heart Early Stage.
Chuxuan looked at Li Hong, his gaze filled with sympathy and a hint of warm comfort. But his words felt like a knife stabbing deep into Li Hong's heart.
Five years! What on earth happened during those five years!
"This past five years have been extremely difficult, but fortunately, we all made it through. However, there is something I must tell you: your Aunt and sister-in-law passed away at the foot of the mountain." Chuxuan pulled Li Hong's hand away from Chuxiong, looking directly into his eyes with calmness: "You must hold on."
"No..." Li Hong felt as if struck by lightning; he was nearly driven mad as he shouted to the sky: "No...!"
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